//-------------------------------------------------------// A Different Tale -by Sugarcube66- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// Prophecy. //-------------------------------------------------------// Prophecy. A young mare scampered through the streets of the royal city of Canterlot. She was a unicorn mare with a grayish-purple coat and a yellow and whitish-blonde mane. Her cutie was of 5 4-point stars and her golden eyes were focused on getting to her home in the castle, till 3 mares walked in front of her. She slipped to a stop and stared at the ponies who had hopped in front of her. ''Dinky, we came to tell you that Twinkleshine is having a big party in the west castle courtyard, we wanted to know if you would come with us?'' asked the apparent lead unicorn of the group. The unicorn mare, apparently named Dinky, winced under their pleading gazes. She shook her head and glanced at a book in her bag, which had a symbol of the alicorn mare on the cover. ''Oh, I'm so sorry but I have to catch up on my studies. And I have to babysit Twilight today, sorry.'' She darted off, as the lead unicorn looked at her with slight annoyance in her eyes yet she sighed. ''I don't get it, it's all Twilight or books with that mare. And I know Twilight, despite being a filly, she is the smartest of her former classes, I don't think she needs babysitting, Dinky Hooves.'' One of the other two unicorns nodded in agreement. ''Twilight moved up 3 grades in her first year at school when she was, I believe 2 years old. And she already had her cutie mark, granted she had been born with the darn thing but seriously come on! Half of us didn't have cutie marks and we were 10 years old. She in fact skipped magic kindergarten.'' ''Studious sisters, what do you expect.'' said the third one, shaking her head. ''Come on, we better not leave Twinkle waiting, you know what she can be like.'' ''As soon as I get home, I will inform Twily and look up information on the elements of harmony, and if I find something disturbing I'll inform the princess....that's the plan at least.'' said Dinky, speaking out loud as she pasted by many ponies, seeming to confuse half of them with her ignorance, on her way to the library-bedroom that she and her little sister, Twilight called home. She ran up the spiral stairs to her 'home' and pushed the door open and it seemed obviously hits something heavy because of the loud clatter it made. Dinky, however, wasn't fussed as she went and called out. ''Twilight! Twilight!'' A groan was heard, and Dinky stopped immediately upon seeing her filly sister laying on the floor in clear plain. ''Oh....sorry, Twilight. Didn't know you had been behind the door....'' chuckled the unicorn mare, nervously. Twilight was a unicorn filly with a pale lavender coat, a mane of mostly dark bluish-purple strains but running just off from the center were two streaks, one of rose pink, the other of violet. The same violet could be seen in the filly's big eyes. Her cutie mark was of a star like her sister, but with a different design. She had a large pink star in the center, with a slightly smaller white star hiding behind it and surrounding the two stars were 5 different white stars ''It's alright, big sis. But what's the hurry about? Did the princess send a letter?'' asked the filly, as she pulled a pink and purple stripped present off her horn. She looked sadly at it as the bear teddy that she had stuffed inside fell out. ''What is that, Twily?'' asked Dinky, confused by the present. ''Oh....well um, it was my present for Twinkleshine but let me guess, we're not going now. Dinky, I know that your anti-social because you believe that people would use you to get to the princess but the fillies that go to the school aren't too bad......just get to know some of them and maybe you could have friends. I bet Twinkleshine would gladly be your friend, big sis.'' ''Twilight.....I would, but being Princess Celestia's prodigy, I need to focus on my magical studies and so do you, after all, you graduated from the school of gifted unicorns pretty early for your age. Most ponies don't graduate till their 18, your only 12.'' ''Yea.....I could have been older if your magic had been stronger......I could have been summoned as a filly, that why I wouldn't have had to wait 2 years before I began my studies.'' grumbled the fillies. ''Do you want a book or something?'' She asked noticing that her older sister was clearly getting annoyed because she couldn't find the book she so desperately wanted. ''Yeah, can you find me Predictions and Prophecies?'' grumbled Dinky, looking at her baby sister with pleading eyes. ''...After all, you have a location spell.'' ''Oh okay, just give me a second.'' The filly walked up to the second floor to join her sister and looked up at her horn, she closed her eyes and focused her magic which spiraled up her horn which began to glow. She sent a shock wave through the room and and the book in questioned began to rattle and buzz about. ''There, you happy?'' ''Thank you, Twily.'' giggled Dinky as she levitated the book off the shelve and placed it on her stand. Using magic, she flicked through the book. ''E...e...e...ah, here we are! The elements of harmony. See 'mare in the moon'?'' ''I thought the 'mare in the moon' was just an old mares' tale, everypony knows that.'' questioned Twilight, who was putting the books that Dinky had taken from the shelf in searching for her book. Of course, moving so many books at a time was a toil so it was taking her some time to get them all in the correct positions, if they weren't in the right location then the school's librarian would get on her back. ''That's what I thought....'' mumbled Dinky, as she flipped through the pages in the book. ''Mare. Here we go. mare in the moon. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the elements of harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about night time eternal!'' ''Why are you even searching through these, Dinky?'' ''I was reading a book called the 'elements of harmony' and it told the story of two alicorn sisters, the younger becoming jealous and falling to her own jealousy because of her older sister getting all the ponies of Equestria's attention, when she got none.......and I knew that I had read the term 'elements of harmony' somewhere before. Now I know where, the story of Nightmare Moon and the legend of the mare in the moon are the exact same.'' ''That doesn't sound right....'' mumbled Twilight, agreeing with her sister that something was up. ''I think you should contact the princess about this.........the idea that the mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon could coming back and shroud Equestria in darkness in very scary.'' Dinky nodded, and summoned a piece of parchment and a pen with her magic. She scanned the page for a second before writing a letter to the princess. She detailed about what she had read in her books and about the threat if Nightmare Moon happened to return. She gave the letter to her little sister, who had a group of various teleport spells. Twilight sent the letter on it's way before smiling at her sister. Dinky, despite being the student of Celestia, had a limited group of spells. Her main spell was to summon objects and creatures, she used it often and it was even her talent. She could also do basic magic. But of the sisters, it was Twilight who processed the arsenal of magical abilities. Seconds later, a letter dropped to the group just in front of Twilight, surprising the filly a little but she instantly shook her head and levitated the letter up, beginning to read the letter out. ''My faithful students, I understand your concerns perfectly but there is more to life then each other and books. So I have come up with something that you can do. I want you to stay in Ponyville for the next few days to supervise the preparations for the upcoming Summers Suns Celebration. I have arranged for you to stay in a library while your there but I have another task for you, to make some friends.'' ''What the hell, does the princess not trust my judgement?'' questioned Dinky, with a concern in her voice. ''Should I message her back?'' ''....I don't know, but I believe we should just do as she says, maybe she has a reason for wanting us to make some friends. Plus, we get to live in a library which is good enough for me as we can research the story of Nightmare Moon.'' ''True. Well, let's start packing. I'll send a letter to mom saying we'll be in town for a few days, it will make her happy to hear that she'll be able to see her daughters again. I wonder how mom, dad and Sparkler are doing.'' ''Well, from mom's last letter to us. Sparkler's apparently got her own foal now, by the name of Toostie Flute. She was apparently raped.'' ''Questioned before you continue.'' said Dinky, with a confused and horrified expression. ''How in Equestria do you know what 'rape' means. Your only twelve for pony's sakes!'' ''Doesn't matter, remember big sis, I'm a highly intelligent 12 year old who happened to not be conceived naturally because somepony couldn't control her magic as a 12 year old taking a dumb entrance exam that I passed with flying colors. Want the proof?!'' She showed her big sister her star cutie mark. ''This was my cutie mark, it has no real meaning. It just classifies me as magical made. I'm not a true filly.'' ''Your a true filly by my standards, Twilight. Remember, you were born as a newborn foal so with the exception of how you were born, your basically a normal foal just with differences like your cutie mark, with does in fact have a meaning. It means your gifted with magic, much like me though my magic is summoning.'' ''Oh....whatever, my might as well start packing and get to Ponyville. Hurry up and send that letter to mama. We can't exactly arrived without her knowing.'' Dinky nodded and began to work her magic, writing the letter while Twilight packed both of their stuff up. It took a few minutes all together but they eventually got their stuff together. Twilight sighed to herself, and looked at her older sister. ''Got the letter sorted?'' ''Yeah, you got our bags ready....wait I can see that.'' She chuckled, she had definitely got a big of her mother's stupidity. She shook her head and passed the letter to Twilight, who scanned over it and nodded, mostly to herself before sending it with her magic. ''Okay, it's well on the way to mom's now. Give her a minute or two to reply, then we'll leave to our former home, when you were a filly and me a newborn foal.'' ''Yeah, I haven't been there for a while. I mean, we went for visits during the summer holidays, like it is now for the younger students but we haven't actually lived there in years and we aren't even going to be living with mom because of it being a short time period. A letter dropped on the floor a moment after Dinky spoke. Twilight quickly read over it, as she knew exactly who it had been from. Her mother's hoof writing was a bad as ever, but then again, it was natural as pegasi always had bad hoof writing as they had to use either their hooves, when their flying that is or their months. As for unicorns, they had it easy. But she shook her head. ''She simply said that she'll be waiting by town hall for our arrival.'' ''I see, makes sense for mom. Let's go now.'' The filly nodded, and the sisters left their home, forgetting to clean it up like the absent minded ponies they were. They just headed straight for the pony pulled carriages and hopped into one of them, of course, after paying the pegasi stallion pulling it. They were now ready to head to Ponyville under the guise they were helping prepare for the Summer Sun, but in fact they wanted to save all of Equestria from the clutches of Nightmare Moon. They didn't know if they could succeed but they knew that they would need to face the troubles, together. //-------------------------------------------------------// Meetings //-------------------------------------------------------// Meetings Dinky sighed, as she rode in the fling chariot. The two pegasi in front seemed to notice and asked. ''Is there anything wrong, madam?'' ''No, there's nothing wrong...................just thinking about mine and Twilight's tasks when we get to Ponyville, isn't that right, little sister?'' ''Y-yea....'' mumbled Twilight, deciding to simple agree to back up her older sister. ''So, Dinky, should we go through the tasks that we need to supervise?'' ''Sure......I guess that could pass the time.'' ''Okay, first up on the list:banquet preparations. Apparently we have to go to a apple farm by the name of Sweet Apple Acres. Then we have weather control, done by a pegasus pony by the name of Scootaloo, and it evens states that her younger sister Rainbow Dash may be helping her...3rd up is decorations in the town hall, anypony could be supervising the job and after that, we have music. Not much information on the music, but it should be on the edge of town.'' The chariot began to lower to the ground as they reached Ponyville. Dinky nodded, accepting all of the chores she had to do for the day. ''Well, once we have finished all of our tasks, we should be able to research up on Nightmare Moon so we know how to find the elements to send her back to the moon.'' The chariot landed on the ground, and the sisters hopped out of the cart. ''Thank you, good sirs.'' said Twilight, for her older sister who had already started to wander off. ''So, we're heading to the apple farm now, but where is the apple farm?'' ''Oh, I can answer you that. But firsts, where is mama's hug.'' said a voice, surprising Dinky till she turned around and saw a gray pegasus, with a blonde mane and golden wonky eyes. On the mare's flank was a group of bubbles. ''Mom/Mama.'' cried the mare and filly in unison as they hugged their mother. Derpy smiled down at her children, as Dinky asked. ''Didn't you say that you would be at town hall though?'' ''Yeah, but I saw the chariot flying in and so decided to come and greet you here instead. So, you need to go to the apple farm. You know the way already, Dinky. Don't you?'' asked the mother. When Dinky nodded, she smiled and then asked. ''So what has the princess got you to do?'' ''We have to supervise the preparations for the Summer Suns Celebration and Dinky has to make some friends, something she hasn't done since prior to her entrance exam.'' ''I see. But why does the princess wish for her to make friends here, why not back in Canterlot at the school?'' ''I have no idea, mama........but apparently, we just have too. Even I have to make friends, I don't know anypony here.....'' ''I know, sweetie. But, you should do what the princess is asking of you. Are you listening to me, Dinky Hooves. You left your friends back when you transferred to the school and took Twilight with you. Look, I get that you loved to learn and practice your magic but if the princess were to ask me to make friends, I would listen to her.'' said Derpy with a smile. ''Now, run along and complete your tasks. I'll let your father and Sparkler now about your return.'' Dinky frowned, she didn't like the idea that not just the princess and her sister wanted her to make friends, but her mother as well. Her day just keep getting better and better, she thought with a hint of sarcasm in her internal voice. She mentally shook her head, and looked down at her sister. ''Let's get to the farm..'' Twilight sighed and shook her head, before they began to walk to Sweet Apple Acres. The apple farm was massive, covering at least a third of the town. Apparently apples were a very big business in Ponyville. And just by looking at the bright red apples, Twilight was getting hungry and wondered if the apples would let her and Dinky sample some of the products. The earthen path up to the orchard did take a minute to take, as the farm seemed to be resting on the top of a hill. As they made it to the top, a clear and happy voice rang through their ears as a pony ran by them. ''Yeehaw!'' The pony stopped suddenly and kicked one of the many apple trees, the apples then dropped into some neatly placed baskets as the mare took delight in her hard work. The mare was a pale yellow colored earth pony with a two-toned mane of red and a darker shade of red, that at a further distance away could have been classed as brown. Her eyes were a stunning orange color and resting on her flank was a cutie mark of a half-painted red apple, with a couple of apple blossoms and a paint brush resting just in front of it with a red tip. Dinky sighed and walked up to the mare, with a awkward smile painted on her periwinkle features. ''I am Dinky Hooves and this is my little sister, Twilight Hooves. And we have come to check up on how the banquet is getting along.'' ''Why. Howdy, Miss Hooves. A pleasure to meetin' yer acquaintance. Mah name is Applebloom and ah help run this place with my Momma Smith. Though, my little sister, AJ, also helps.'' said the yellow mare, now referred to as Applebloom. ''We here at Sweet Apple Acres love to make new friends.'' ''.....Friends?'' mumbled Dinky, shaking her head. ''No....I just-'' The mare didn't listen and grabbed a triangle. She rang it. ''Soups on, everypony. We have guests!'' Twilight and Dinky looked at each other, with confusion. That was until a hurricane of ponies ran by them. ''Oh bu-.'' They cried, as they suddenly ended up behind the table. Applebloom popped up next to them. Twilight looked at her. ''W-what?'' ''Let me introduce ya'll to mah family.'' All of the ponies began to put food down as Applebloom introduced them. ''Apple Fritter. Apple Bumpkin. Red Gala. Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp'' She took a deep breath and turned to her main family. She first pointed to a earth pony filly with a orange coat, blonde mane and green eyes. She already had her mark like Twilight, it was of 3 red apples and across her muzzle was a set of white freckles. On her back was a baby colt of a red coat, orange mane and green eyes like his apparent big sister. ''Over there is my little sister and brother, Applejack and Little Macintosh, though easily named Little Mac.'' Applebloom then looked over to a slightly older mare, who had a pale mint green coat, light blonde mane and orange eyes like Applebloom. ''This here is my Momma Smith and the owner of our little apple farm. Momma, come say hi to our new friends.'' The mare, Momma Smith, nodded and walked over. ''Howdy, little friend. Ah hope ya will be able to put up with my grandchild.'' ''Well, Ah'd say she's already part of the family.'' said Applebloom, wrapping a hoof around Dinky's shoulder, creeping the mare out a little. ''Well, I can see that the food situation is sorted.....but me and Twilight need to get going now.'' ''Can't ya stay for brunch?'' asked Applejack, the small filly looking up at her with pleading eyes. The baby on her back did the same. ''....Sorry, but we have so much.....'' Everypony in the Apple Family made a disappointed sigh, making Dinky feel sorry as she grumbled. ''Fine....'' ''Well....it seems the food is sorted...'' mumbled Twilight, her belly was a little swollen but she had not eaten nearly as much as her sister. ''...I ate too much pie...'' grumbled Dinky, her stomach very swollen. She didn't want to disappoint the apples so she accepted their wishes and ate against her body's wishes. ''What's next on that list that the princess gave you?'' ''Yeah, weather management done by Scootaloo and her little sisters.'' Dinky looked up at the sky, with a frown. ''Well, they aren't doing a very good job now are they.'' A soaring sound ran through her ears, as a flash of orange and purple ran right into her. She groaned as she looked at the pegasus, who had landed on her. The pegasus was a mare that had a orange coat, with blue splatters. Her mane was purple yet there was strains in it that was rainbow in color. Her eyes were different colors, one of magenta and the other of purple. Her cutie mark was the only normal thing, it was of a what looked like a scooter wheel with a wing and lighting bolt coming off it. All in all though, the mare looked like some sort of lab experiment gone wrong. She flapped her wings and flew off Dinky. ''Uh.....sorry?'' She sheepishly laughed after speaking. ''Uh, want me to help?'' Dinky stared at her, groaning under her breath. She was sitting in a puddle, as Twilight stared at her with shocked eyes. The mare's mane was coated in muddy water. She stared at the pegasus, as the oddly colored mare grabbed a gray cloud and jumped on it, to get it to let out water. The orange and blue pegasus stared down at her, chuckling nervously as she saw Dinky now soaking wet. ''Guess I overdid it.'' She decided to fly around her, in attempt to dry the poor unicorn. ''How about that, my own personal scoot-ta-dry.'' She then burst laughing at the unicorn's appearance. The poor unicorn, now having a fluffed up mane, groaned and grumbled as she stared at the laughing pegasus. ''I guessing your Scootaloo.'' ''You heard of me or something, am I famous?'' asked the pegasus, now known as Scootaloo. ''Yeah....famously stupid.'' She rolled her eyes, and shook her head mentally. She decided to come in from a more friendly approach. ''I came here to check up how clear the skies are and it's obvious that you haven't been doing your job.'' ''That's 'cause I been practicing to join the wonderbolts. Me and my little sister, Rainbow Dash, have dreamed of joining them for years.'' ''Oh, the wonderbolts? As in the most fastest, coolest and stylish pegasi in Equestria?'' Dinky scoffed causing Twilight to giggle a little. ''Sorry to break it to you, but the wonderbolts would never take a peagsus who can't even keep the sky clean for a day.'' Suddenly a small filly pegasus flew in front of Dinky, scowling. ''Don't treat my big sister, like that! She is the best pegasus in Ponyville!'' The filly's magenta eyes and cyan coat made her look a little like Scootaloo, but it was the full-on rainbow mane that looked unique, even more so then Scootaloo's apparently failed attempt at dying her mane. Another filly sat next to Scootaloo, curling a big of her mane around her hooves. Unlike the rainbow maned filly, she was a light yellow pegasus with a long length of pink mane. Her teal eyes refused to look at them when she spoke. ''T-that...is if you don't mind.'' Her flank shimmered in the light as a cloud passed by the sun, on that pale flank was a cutie mark of 3 pink butterflies. Next to the filly was a white bunny. ''Rainbow, I know you want to help me but let me talk to Miss....?'' ''Her name is Dinky..'' mumbled Twilight, as she pulled down the rainbow maned filly, Rainbow, to the ground. Rainbow sighed but stayed on the floor. ''Miss Dinky. Now, you fillies, go along and play. I need to chat with Dinky.'' said Scootaloo, the young fillies looked at each other and ran off to introduce themselves to each other. ''Now, Dinky. Are you saying I can't get this sky clean? I can clear their skies within 10 seconds flat!'' ''Prove it.'' said Dinky, wanting to test the mare. The orange and blue mare glared at the unicorn. ''Your on.'' She soared into the air and did various flips and kicks as she removed the various clouds from the sky. Dinky, who had been silently timing it, stared up at Scootaloo with shock when it was discovered that the mare had indeed cleared the sky within 10 secrets. ''See. Ten. Secrets. Flat. You should see the look are your face. Hope to see you around, Dinky. You seem fun. Also, I suggest you take a look at your face. It's hysterical.'' ''I...um...uh...'' Dinky stuttered, from her shock. ''Come along, Fluttershy, Rainbow. We have more training to do.'' ''Aw yeah!'' cried Rainbow, with excitement as she didn't even brother to say bye to Twilight, who frowned. She thought that Rainbow was her friend. Fluttershy, feeling sorry for the filly, hugged her. ''Rainbow's just being Rainbow....whenever, it comes to big sister, Scootaloo...she's always like this. Don't worry about it, Twilight....See you later, I hope I'll see you when Celestia raises the sun.'' The tall pegasus filly ran after her sisters. Twilight simple blushed, she didn't know what her feeling was but she couldn't get the pegasus out of her mind. ''Okay, Twilight. You are 12 years old. AND SHE'S A FILLY, LIKE YOU!'' She tried to slam some sense into her, when she noticed her sister's still shocked face. ''Uh....sis, she's gone....'' Dinky snapped out of it, and stared down at her little sister with confused eyes. ''Okay, so what just happened....I was talking to Scootaloo, while you were playing with her sisters...uh Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, I think...and I dared her to completely clear the skies in 10 seconds....and she did it. So that why I was out of it...'' She mumbled as her memories cleared up. She then noticed Twilight's faint blush. ''Aww, does my baby sister have a crush? So, who's the lucky colt?'' ''S-shut up!'' cried Twilight. She then shook her head and looked down. ''D-don't get mad...b-but...it's F-Fluttershy.....'' ''S-so...my baby sister is a fillyfooler.....'' ''S-shut up.....Come on, we need to check up on the decorations....'' She then took a good look at her sister's appearance. ''But first.'' She let her magic build up and she changed Dinky's mane back to it's natural almost straight self. Dinky smiled at her mane, before thanking her little sister. They walked to town hall where the shiny decorations were being put up by magic. This made Dinky assume that a unicorn was putting up the decorations. Boy, had she been way off. She was shocked to see that standing in the middle of the room was a earth pony, with a pink coat, a purple and white swirly and fuzzy mane. However, it was the mare's eyes that sealed the very weird deal. They were unnatural, instead of a general pony eye, they had no blankness. Just her whites and purple irises and the irises were made from two shades of swirling purple. The mare's cutie mark was also unique, it was of a ball and a screw, very weird. And on the mare's head was a propeller beanie hat. But she hadn't seen it all yet, floating in front of the mare were different shades of streamers. She kept mumbling. ''No...no...no. Argh! Why is it so hard to find the prefect colors. Pinkie, bring more streamers in.'' ''Bite me.........'' grumbled a filly, who was standing just out of the light. Her dark pink coat and very straight pink mane gave away that she wasn't the kindest nor happiness of fillies. Her dark blue eyes looked around the room for the box of streamers. She grabbed them and pushed them over to the mare. ''Here you go.......'' ''Thank you, little sister.'' The unique mare levitated the streamers in the air and smiled, they were better in colors. She hung them up and then saw Dinky and Twilight. ''Oh, hello there! Haven't seen you here before. What's your names?'' ''Uh....my name is Dinky Hooves, and this is my little sister, Twilight.'' ''Hooves, hooves. Aha, are your related to Derpy Hooves?'' said the weird mare, with a cute grin that seemed to make Dinky feel weird, as she keep shuffling. ''Y-yea...she's our mother.'' ''Oh! I see, I do faintly remember her telling me and my little sister, Pinkie Pie, who's over there, that she had 3 children; Sparkler, I knew, and 2 others who are you two. I'm so glad I finally get to meet you. So, what can I help you two with?'' ''W-ell.....'' stuttered Dinky, feeling very nervous around the mare. She mentally shook her head and started to act a little more confidently. ''We are the students of Princess Celestia and she asked us to come here to check up on the preparations for the Summer Suns Celebration.'' ''Celestia, huh.'' murmured the filly, almost angrily. ''Err....is something wrong, miss?'' ''Name's Screwball, but you can call me Screwy. And sorta, but it's a long story so never mind about it.'' ''Are you sure that you don't wanna talk about it? Maybe you'll feel better if you were to talk to us about it?'' ''Leave big sis alone. She just said she doesn't want to talk about it. Or do you want to answer to me? I won't put up with anypony who makes Screwy upset, she's my only family who cared about me!'' said the filly, who was apparently Pinkie Pie. ''Um....sorry...'' whispered Dinky, awkwardly. Pinkie Pie sighed. ''I'm Pinkamina Diane Pie, I'm not happy to meet you.......'' ''Pinwamia?'' mumbled Twilight, trying to get the filly's long name out of her mouth. ''Just follow my sister's idea and call me Pinkie, all my sisters call me Pinkie. Only my parents call me by my full name.'' said the filly, almost with a hint of annoyance as she brought up her family. ''Oh, Pinkie Pie. Cute name.'' said Twilight, trying to break the ice that seemed to crackle between her and the pink filly. ''So, what do you like to do?'' ''Waste my boring day by following Screwy. She makes it interesting, she has since the day that ma and pa adopted her....'' A faint smile appeared on the filly, a apparently rare sight, as Screwball gasped in shock. ''YOU SMILED!'' ''Ears, Screwball!'' cried Pinkie, with frustration. ''Oh, sorry...'' The odd filly, meekly mumbled. Dinky looked at the sisters with confusion. ''W-well...I'll be on my way now. You have done a great job with the decorations, by the way.'' ''T-thank you....'' mumbled Screwball, the two mares stared at each other very awkwardly. Pinkie decided to walk up to Twilight, and whispered. ''Ya think your sister has a crush on mine?'' ''Maybe....'' Twilight awkwardly replied in whisper. Pinkie nodded, awkwardly. She stared at the silence between the older ponies. ''Well.....I'm not gonna judge them....so I hope you don't.'' ''Yea.....our big sisters are full grown....not fillies like us....they can make their own decisions on who to fall for.'' She thought back to her possible crush on Fluttershy, and wondered if she had her own choice on falling for the filly. ''Big sis. We need to get going or it'll be the Summer Suns Celebration before we get back to the library.'' ''Oh right, s-see you later, S-Screwy...'' ''You too...Dinks....'' The sisters walked to the edge of town, with a awkward silence filling the air. That was till a calm and gently voice broke through. ''Our Princess Celestia, behold. Behold. Our Princess Celestia. Behold. Our princess is before us. Behold, behold!'' ''Sister, that's like very bad.'' said another voice. ''Sorry....I'm just nervous and I have to sing this during the introduction. Rarity, will I really be able to do this?'' ''You won't be able too, unless you believe, big sis. Now, one more time.'' ''Okay. Our Princess Celestia, behold, behold. Our Princess Celestia, behold, behold. Our is before us, behold, behold, behold. Behold, behold. Our Princess Celestia. Behold, behold, behold, behold. Our princess is, our princess is here!'' Dinky looked down at Twilight, with a stunned face. The voice did sound amazing. ''I suppose this is the music, I guess....but only one mare for singer, isn't that a little unfair for the ponies of this town to do?'' ''Maybe, but she does sound stunning.'' replied Twilight. Dinky nodded and got up, she walked over to the mare. The mare was a white unicorn with a two-toned mane of pink and purple, that was in a curly fashion. Her eyes were a tranquil green and on her flank was a cutie mark of a heard, with two curly lines coming off with a pair of notes surrounding the heart. ''Hello, my name is Dinky Hooves. I have been sent here to supervise the music, and from the sound of it, you have it covered.'' ''Oh...thank you, Miss Hooves.'' said the unicorn mare, as she smiled down at her little sister, a white unicorn filly with a stylish purple mane and blue eyes. She whispered. ''See, I told you that ponies would love my voice.'' ''But why is there only one pony on singing, shouldn't you also have a backup vocal?'' ''Yeah.........I have a backup on vocals but she doesn't come very often to practices, saying she already knows her lines off by heart. I'm Sweetie Belle, by the way. That little filly is my little sister, Rarity. She is a little fussy about mud, so I often don't bring her out here, but with the celebration only a day away. I needed somepony to check my voice.'' ''You have a little sister as well. So do I. Twilight come out.'' The purple filly slowly nodded, and walked over to Dinky and the others. ''This is my 12 year old sister, Twilight. Though, at times, she can seem as old as me.'' ''Why might that be?'' ''Because she is super smart. She skipped magic kindergarten and skipped 3 grades at the age of 2 when she started at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns....not to brag that is.'' ''Wow, she does seem very lucky. I'm not the best with magic but Rarity knows a bunch of gem finding spells. It's actually a wonder on how she doesn't have her cutie mark yet. Apparently, my little sister is dead set on being a fashionista, whatever that means.'' ''I see. Well, considering how good your singing was. I'm going to go lay down, it's been a long day for me and Twilight and I really need to catch up on some sleep. I'll see you at the celebration in a day when Celestia raises the sun.'' ''See you too.'' Twilight followed her big sister, as they walked back through the streets of Ponyville. ''We sure did meet some very unique ponies today.'' ''You think?'' whispered Dinky, sarcastically. ''I mean, first we meet a mare, who's family is huge and they seem to all live there. Then we met a mare, who looked like some sort of lab experiment on severely wrong. Then we meet an earth pony, who can apparently do magic. And then we meet a unicorn with limited magic but an amazing voice. That's a big diverse in backgrounds...Though I wouldn't be surprised if there little sisters weren't friends at school. I wouldn't even be surprised if everypony in this town were friends, after all it's a urban town and nothing like Canterlot, where it's all rich ponies. There is no gap in how much money anypony has, so they can easily make friends and not feel left out.'' ''You make a good point. Still, I know you seemed to like Screwball the most out of the mares we met today.'' ''And you like Fluttershy the most, so don't criticize me for liking a mare, alright.'' scowled Dinky, who was very tired. ''I just want to lay down and fall to sleep. We can look up information about Nightmare Moon tomorrow, we can sleep tonight.'' ''I think that's a good idea.'' mumbled Twilight, in agreement as she yawned. ''You been walking all day, you need to sleep more then me. Your only a filly after all.'' said Dinky with a smile and a giggle. ''We're here.'' She said, as she saw their new home; a large library in a tree. ''Now let's make something to eat and then we can go to bed, how's that sound? Want celery soup and lily sandwiches?'' ''Thanks sound nice.'' said the sleepy filly as they walked in. After the long day, it was a very quick dinner before they headed up to bed. They needed to sleep for what was to come during the night of the next day. //-------------------------------------------------------// Awakening. //-------------------------------------------------------// Awakening. The next day had come around and Twilight and Dinky had spent the day looking up information on Nightmare Moon. They had discovered how to activate the elements of harmony and how Nightmare Moon would get out of her moon prison. Apparently legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring everlasting night. How the stars aided her was a mystery, maybe they were like a keyhole that magic could easily unlock. As for the elements of harmony, there was 6 different elements but only 5 were actually know, they were laughter, kindness, loyalty, generosity and honesty. The sixth element was a complete mystery that nopony knew about. Apparently, they needed a spark that activate the known elements to cause the 6th elements to appear. ''Well, that's annoying. How do we make a spark?'' asked Dinky, after reading a book that told her about the elements of harmony. ''It's not like we can wait for a bolt of lightning to strike.'' ''Uh. Unicorn?'' said Twilight, looking up from 'predictions and prophecies'. She allowed a bunch of sparkles to erupt from her horn, as she stared at her older sister with frustration. ''Oh yeah...'' mumbled Dinky, awkwardly. ''I forget. You'll have to do the spell, as my magic is so limited. Should we start heading to mom's? She did ask that we come for dinner because she didn't see us that often anymore. Plus we can meet Sparkler and her daughter that way.'' Twilight nodded in agreement, as she began to organize the books back onto their correct shelves. It was pretty easy despite they only living at the library for the night, Twilight had an amazing memory and was able to find a book within instants just by looking at the name of the shelf. Once all the books were on the correct shelves and in their right positions, she turned to her older sister. ''Lets go. I can't wait to have some of mama's baked and buttered muffins.'' ''Yeah, we've only been able to have them if we've come here for our school breaks. So better savor them, right?'' said Dinky in agreement, with a broad smile on her face. The sisters grinned at each other and left their temporary library home and walked through the streets of Ponyville. Everypony was decorating the streets, preparing for that night. It was going to be the longest day of the year tomorrow and they were going to be up all night, so most fillies were asleep at that moment in time, as they couldn't stay up as long as their parents or the rest of Ponyville at that. Truth be told, Twilight was going to be sent to bed after their dinner. Everypony in her family agreed that the two fillies of their large family had to be sent to bed, to conserve their energy for staying up all night to watch Celestia rise the sun. Even if Dinky and Twilight both knew that Celestia might not be rising the sun, because of the dreaded princess of the night returning. But still, their family didn't need to know that as it could put them in more danger. They eventually arrived out a cottage that was on the outskirts of Ponyville. The cottage was pretty large but it had to be with how many ponies lived there. The cottage, itself, was a beautiful cream color with a beautiful red door. Dinky was the one to walked up to the door and knock on it, as Twilight just stood back. She hadn't lived in the house properly since she was a foal, and the only times she had been inside was when she and Dinky had school holidays. The door opened to reveal Derpy Hooves, with her husband, Doctor Whooves. The Doctor was a brown stallion with a spiky brown mane and blue eyes. It was actually a wonder on how their foals were unicorns when Derpy was a pegasus and Doctor was a earth pony, it was a mystery indeed. To most at least, the family could easily explain Sparkler and Twilight. It was Dinky that would be a hard point to explain. Basically, Sparkler was adopted just before Dinky was born. Dinky was born to Derpy and another stallion, who was indeed a unicorn. At first, Derpy believed that her colt was the one for her, till he dumped her. She then later meet Doctor and realized that her two daughters needed a father. They would have had their own foal, however, if Twilight hadn't been born because of Dinky's summoning magic. Once Twilight was born, they couldn't give her up and took her in, naming her after the time of day she had been 'adopted' at. ''Hey, girls. Just in time for mommy's special muffins.'' grinned Derpy, smiling at her two daughters. ''Come in, time to introduction you all to the new family member. Sparkie, bring your daughter up so she can meet her aunts, will you?'' Sparkler, a pink unicorn with a purple mane and eyes and a cutie mark of 3 diamonds, nodded and gently spoke to a small 3 year old filly with a blue coat, purple mane with a small whitish-purple streak similar to Dinky's, and purple eyes that matched her mothers. The pair walked up and Sparkler was the one to speak. ''Okay, Dinky, Twi. This is my little daughter, Tootsie Flute. 3 years old and she seems to have a idol in a mare by the name of Lyra.'' The filly nervously walked up to Dinky and Twilight, mumbling softly. ''H-hewwo, aunwie Twiwight, winky.'' Her voice, while young and foalish, held a tone of a flute, just like her name. ''I...I'm happie to meew woo.'' She then hopped back into her chair at the table, causing Sparkler to giggle a little. ''Sorry about that, girls. She's a little shy. Though, she loves mom's muffins. Then again, considering how much mom bakes them, anypony could start to love them. Even the scariest of ponies might love mom's baked muffins. Now, sit down. We need to catch up.'' The sisters nodded and took their places at the table. Twilight levitated her muffin and bite down on it and chewed for a few minutes. She then stopped, with a smile, and asked. ''So, Sparkler, what do you wanna catch up on?'' ''For starters, your studies.'' said the pink mare, causing everypony else at the table to nod. ''Oh. Dinky, you tell them about your studies first.'' ''Fine. Well, I'm still Celestia's prodigy and I'm practicing teleportation at the moment, though it's still very weak and I do end up burning myself every now and again. However, I can now summon various big cats and have managed to summon a...d-dragon....without having to lose control of my powers before hoof.'' ''Still scared of dragons?'' asked Derpy, with concern in her voice. ''Yea....but I'm not having nightmares anymore. It's been so long since my magic caused them to appear at random......and now, if I summon them, they are in my control and won't attempt to attack me or Twilight. That was always my biggest fear, them managing to hurt Twilight. She was so small at the time and very vulnerable.'' ''Not anymore.'' Twilight pipped in, not liking being called weak. ''I know, I know, little sis.......I was only a filly back then and easily frightened. I don't like being scared of dragons but I have no choice in the matter. Come on, tell them about your studies. I have told them about mine.'' ''Fine. My studies have been better then Dinky's for a few reasons. One, I have a big arsenal of spells involving teleportation of objects and myself, light spells, gravity spells, echo spells. I could even do full body transformations, if I wanted too, I could change into a cat.'' This seemed to interest Tootsie Flute, who's hooves immediately landed on the table as she tried to get into Twilight's face. ''Do it, do it. Pwease!'' ''Okay, okay!'' cried Twilight, wanting the younger filly to get out of her face. She instantly shoved her muffin into her mouth, and hopped off her chair as she chewed her meal. She landed carefully on the ground and focused on her magic, her horn sparked a little then shocked into a beautiful aura of magenta light. The same light wrapped around her body, as she felt her pony ears change into a pair of cat ears, her tail shrank and lengthened out as well as lost it's beautiful array of colors. Her pupils thinned out and changed into dagger-like eyes. Her mane vanished as she felt herself grow smaller and smaller, till she was a little, purring, lavender kitten with violet eyes. ''Meow!'' ''Wow!'' cried Tootsie. ''Twat's so coow. Mama, mama. Did woo see? Aunwie Twiwight turwed inwo a kittwen!'' ''Yes, I saw, sweetie and it's amazing. But you'll hurt Twilight's hearing if you keep shouting.'' said the young filly's mother as she pointed to Twilight, who was holding her cat ears painfully. ''You see, cats have sensitive hearing so if you keep shouting, she may never be able to hear again.'' Once the filly said sorry, Sparkler turned to Twilight. ''Sorry about my daughter's shouting, even though she's shy when she sees something she likes, she instantly yelling.'' Twilight changed back to normal and nodded. ''It's alright, I just wasn't expecting her to ask me to demonstrate.'' ''Still though, you do seem to have a big potential. Transformations spells aren't easy.'' ''I know. I only recently figured 'em out but I hope that I'll be able to change into larger creatures as well soon.'' ''Yeah, now, Tootsie, Twilight. It's time to go to bed, if you wanna stay up to see Princess Celestia raise the sun.'' A small whine came from the foals in the room, causing Dinky to giggle a little as Sparkler continued. ''You don't want to sleep through it, do you?'' ''Fine...'' came the joint reply as they walked upstairs to their rooms. The mares and stallion in the house giggled. Dinky then turned to her parents and older sister. ''I hope you read my letter about the events of tonight. I didn't tell Twilight that I was telling you but I need backup support here in Ponyville while we head into the Everfree Forest after Nightmare's return. I want you to keep everypony safe and warm till we get back. And to tell them that everything to alright.'' The group nodded, allowing Dinky to simply sigh with relief and nod herself. They all knew that the events of that night weren't going to be pretty but they knew that they needed to keep everypony safe no matter what the cost. The only thing they didn't know was how they were gonna make the spark to ignite the elements of harmony, it was gonna be very hard but they could only hope that they'll manage and bring back day and night as it's suppose to be. Nighttime came and as the clock struck 5, everypony gathered in Ponyville's town hall to watch the celebration. Everything was amazing. Dinky had to give it to Screwball and Pinkie for decorating the place so beautifully. Twilight and Dinky stood in the center of the room as Screwball ran over to them with a tray of chocolate muffins levitating above her head. Pinkie wasn't too far behind, probably because she wanted one of the muffins but didn't want to ask at the same time. ''Hey, Dinks. Twily. Doesn't everything look amazing!'' ''Yea, it really does.'' said Dinky, with a smile. She levitated one of the muffins off Screwball's tray and gave it to Pinkie, who slowly ate it with a small smile. The two fillies then ran off. ''Well, I'm glad that Twilight has a friend. All the fillies in Canterlot just ignore her or hate her for her intelligence and magic level.'' ''Most fillies ignore Pinkie due to her cold attitude, so personally I'm glad that your little sister gave her a chance, after all Pinkie's not had the best of lives.'' said Screwball, sadly as she took one of the muffins and nibbled on it. ''What do you mean by that?'' ''Well, you see, she was raised on a rock farm. Nopony was allowed to smile. As for her older and little sisters, Marble was kind but she was pretty much mute if I could call her that. Limestone has a temper about everything and as for Maud, I don't know how to describe her so you would have to meet her yourself if you ever wanted too.'' ''I see, so when your parents adopted you, life became a bit happier for her. I mean, she's smiling now.'' ''Yeah, if anything, Pinkie idolizes me, she wishes that she could have my magical abilities and everything but over then a few random things, she isn't any different to a normal earth pony.'' ''It must be nice to have a little sister who idolizes you. Twilight's nice and kind and all, but she does not make a idol out of me. In fact, she is often annoyed about how far behind I am compare to her in our magical studies. The best that I can do is summon objects and animals, it's actually kind of sad.'' ''Looks like everypony has a difficult life...'' mumbled Screwball, not revealing what she meant by that though. ''Hey look, Sweetie Belle's gonna be singing soon. Looks like the Princess is arriving. It's so exciting. Pinkie, come here. Princess Celestia will be arriving soon.'' The two fillies walked over and stood next to their sisters as Ponyville's mayor walked into the light and began to talk about the summer sun celebration. They didn't listen to in until she said. ''It's time for us to welcome the pony who brings us the sun and moon each day, Princess Celestia!'' Sweetie Belle took that as her cue and began to open her mouth until a pony cried out. ''She's gone!'' And everypony glanced at the balcony that the princess was meant to arrive on. She truly wasn't there and it scared all the ponies in the room. Dinky winced, and glanced down at Twilight, who simply nodded. They looked up at the sky behind they and saw the moon, the mythical mare was no longer there. Now, they were terrified, especially as a faint blue smoke became to arise on the balcony. The smoke shifted and molded until finally, a black alicorn mare appeared on the balcony. Her mane was made up of swirling star-filled blue mist and her cutie mark was a moon. Her teal eyes processed dagger pupils. Her appearance gave it away immediately, she was Nightmare Moon, the mythical mare in the moon and the former younger sister of Princess Celestia. ''Oh, how long as it been since I last saw your faces. 1000 years, if I'm not mistaken. Well now, dear subjects, I have returned to see your sun-loving faces once more.'' cried the black alicorn, with a thick smirk on her face. Scootaloo growled and began to fly at Nightmare Moon. ''What have you done to the princess!?'' She yelled as Applebloom gripped hold of her tail. ''Simmer down, Nelly.'' ''Oh, don't any of you know who I am. Didn't you recall the legend, didn't you see the signs?'' ''We do.'' cried Twilight and Dinky in proper unison. ''Your the mythical mare in the moon, Nightmare Moon!'' ''Oh, somepony who remembers me. You must also recall my motive.'' ''Y-your...here to...'' Dinky hesitated, nervously. ''Remember this day well, ponies for it'll be your last. Because from now on, the night will last forever!'' Nightmare Moon gave out a evil crackle as her mane turned into thick smog as she block the spell that allowed the sun to rise everyday. She also stopped the moon from falling. Everypony gasped in shock as the sisters just looked at each other, worriedly.